


Just Like Always

by TippenFunkaport



Series: SPOP Canon Compliant Post-War Fics [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Best Friend Squad (She-Ra), Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Engagement, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Glimbow Centric, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon, Post-War, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr: Glimbow Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26592700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TippenFunkaport/pseuds/TippenFunkaport
Summary: Adora and Catra think they're helping Bow and Glimmer with an elaborate marriage proposal but their friends have pulled a bait and switch.For the Glimbow Week Prompt: Marriage / Proposal
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Bow (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: SPOP Canon Compliant Post-War Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877971
Comments: 22
Kudos: 138
Collections: Glimbow Week 2020





	Just Like Always

"So, then the prince— Aw, you got another set?" Bow gestured at the pile of cards Glimmer had just lay down amid the crumbs on her fluffy pink skirt. She grinned at him from behind the rest of her hand. "And you're down to three cards already?"

He threw up his hands and accidentally smacked the underside of the table they were hiding under. They both froze for a second to make sure none of the grown-ups realized they were down here but so far so good. It was a fancy party so the table cloth stretched down to the floor and the noise from the party winding down was so loud nobody probably noticed anything anyway. They'd built themselves a little fortress under the buffet table and spread all around them were the snacks they'd managed to sneak from up above. 

Parties at Bright Moon where the best. 

Especially when you weren't exactly on the guest list. 

"Sorry, Bow, but you're gonna lose again!" Glimmer grabbed some cake— they hadn't managed to swipe forks so they were just eating it by the handful which made it taste better anyway— and then licked her fingers clean. There was frosting all over her face but it matched her hair and just made her look cuter. Though he was pretty sure if her mom or anyone from the castle staff could see her right now they would flip. He, on the other hand, was doing pretty good, if you didn't count the big glob of frosting on his pants. 

"I've still got a chance!" He stuffed another one of the little veggie puff things they'd managed to swipe from a distracted waiter into his mouth and drew for his turn. "Ha! All six hearts! That's a bonus!"

"Yeah, but you still don't have a bundle." She tapped the empty space in front of his crossed legs. 

"If you get all six hearts, you shouldn't need a bundle." Bow grumbled as he reached for another card. "Who made up this stupid game anyway?"

"You did." She mumbled around a mouthful of cake as she took her turn. "So, are you ever going to tell this story or what?"

"OK, yeah, so the prince said to the blacksmith boy, we should each have something that reminds us of each other. For good luck. So it'll be like we'll always be together, even if we get separated. And they each made the other something and then traded."

"Like people do when they get married?"

"Kind of. Except when people get married, they usually wear their tokens out in the open so other people know they're together. But they hid theirs. Because it was just for them, you know? And then they were like, if you still feel the same later— Wait, whose turn is it?"

"Yours." Glimmer a sip of some purple bubbly stuff in a fancy glass she insisted on trying and sneezed. She stuck out her tongue. "Blagh! How do the grown-ups drink this stuff? It tastes like an evil bubble bath!" 

"So they were friends and stuff but then it was way later and the blacksmith, he had to leave for the war— Wait! I forgot to mention there was a war—"

"You are not telling this story very well." Glimmer drew a card and lay down another bundle. 

"Because I’m trying to figure out how you keep beating me! Stars too?" He groaned. He'd been collecting stars! He reached for another card. "Anyway, then they didn't see each other for, like, a really long time."

"How long?"

"Uh, I don't know. Eleventy billion years?" He should have just brought the book with him and read it to her but he couldn't think how to bring it without Lance and George noticing. But Glimmer nodded, satisfied with that answer. "But they always had each other's tokens, right, so it was like they were still together and— Oh, come on! You win again?"

"Sorry." Glimmer gave his knee a sympathetic pat as she lay the last of her cards down. "Best nine out of ten?"

"No, thanks. I think I've lost enough times for one afternoon." He collected the cards while Glimmer poked around their snacks stash. "Anyway a whole bunch of stuff happened to them in all that time but then they met again... I forget how. But when they did they were like, 'Hey, so, do you still have it, or whatever?' And, of course, they both did. And then they stayed together forever!" 

"'Or whatever.'" Glimmer did her impression of his voice and cackled. "Very romantic." 

Bow was feeling very defensive about her making fun of his favorite story. "You're missing the point! It's about how even though they were all grown up and had been through all that stuff, they were still each other's favorite person. Like, everything had changed but nothing had changed between them. You see?"

"I get it. But, in the story, don't they get married in the end?" 

"I guess." 

"So then it's not a story about being best friends, you goof, it's about, like, kissing and stuff! Gross!" Glimmer made a face not unlike the one she'd made for the bubbly stuff. 

"It's still saying, you're the only person I like enough to keep around forever and if you still feel the same later... Whatever. We don't have to do it if you don't want to." 

He pretended to be really involved with putting the cards back in his pocket so she wouldn't see that he was trying not to cry. He'd thought it was just a way to make their best friends forever status official but if she was going to be all weird about it.

"Come on, don't get all weepy. I still want to do it. Here." She fished into the pocket of her dress and held out her hand. In the center of her palm was something shiny and small. Bow grinned, relieved, and moved closer for a better look. 

They'd found a treasure while playing in the woods a few weeks ago, two somewhat battered silver things that Glimmer's mom said were something called cuff-links. (Whatever those were. Bow just rolled his sleeves up when he wore a suit!) That's what had given him the idea, inspired by one of his dads' favorite fairy tales.

"It's perfect!" He looked up at her and saw her eyes were twinkling. OK, so she was into this too, no matter how much she made fun of his story. Glimmer had cleaned up the tarnished silver and then glued a ton of pink sparkles to the flat circle part. It twinkled in the palm of her sticky hand. No way he'd ever be able to look at that and not immediately be reminded of his best friend. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his. He'd smoothed out a little bit of dark wood and painted a little red heart on it. The back part of his cuff-link had broken off so he’d strung it on some string, making it into a little bracelet. He gave it a final look and then handed it over, taking hers. He watched as Glimmer smiled as she examined the bracelet and, when she slipped it on her wrist, he felt warm all over. 

He grabbed for his quiver and pushed the little silver post on the back through one of the holes in the belt. Once he felt confident it wasn't going to fall off, he tilted it one last time to let the sparkles catch the light before he pulled the strap back over it. Glimmer did the same, tucking the bracelet into the sleeve of her dress. They nodded solemnly at each and then both burst into giggles. 

"We should do a toast, make it official. Ugh, but not with that." Glimmer ignored the bubbly stuff and went for one of last two veggie puffs. Bow took the other one and they both held them up as if they were glasses. "To... being best friends!"

"Forever." They bumped pastries and popped them into their mouths. They grinned at each other as they chewed. Maybe it was just Bow but it felt like something really important had just happened.

"Forever." Glimmer repeated and then rolled her eyes. "As long as I don't have to kiss you."

"Well, I don't want to kiss you either! Your face is covered in icing!"

"Oh, you're worried about getting dirty, are you?" She grabbed a handful of cake and lunged for him but he dodged at the last second, laughing. 

Half a second later, as they were tearing across the Bright Moon ballroom, throwing cake at each other to the distress of the castle staff and assorted party stragglers, Bow thought to himself that this forever wouldn't be bad at all. 

* * *

“Ha! I win!” Queen Glimmer slammed down her last card with enough flourish that it made the hammock sway underneath them. 

“You can’t do that! You haven’t even gotten a bundle yet!” Bow was still holding a whole handful of cards and the face of a very sore loser. 

“I don’t need one because I got all six hearts. And you can’t get mad about that because you’re the one who added that rule in the first place!” She grabbed for the bowl of nuts and ate a triumphant handful.

He’d picked up her cards and was looking through them. “…and what even is that set? This one’s a moon!” 

“Uh, yeah? Moons are wild!”

“Since when?”

“Since we were like twelve?” 

Bow groaned. He threw the cards back down in the pile and slumped back onto the hammock. “So you win. Just like always.”

She patted his knee sympathetically. “Sorry, sweetie.”

“We’ve been playing this stupid game for over a decade and a half I think I’ve won, like, twice?”

He’d won once and it was because he was being such a baby about it she let him win but she loved him too much to point that out. She grabbed another smug handful. “I understand this is a great tragedy for you right now but I think you’re laying on the veggie puffs.”

“Am I?” Bow pulled himself upright again and checked behind him. “Oh, yeah, here they are.”

He took a one for himself and then handed the plate over to Glimmer. She chewed and watched him organize the pile of cards. Apart from the fact that they were suspended in a tree for tonight’s adventure and not on the window seat in her room, this felt like it could be any random summer evening from when they were growing up. And after how much had changed— for them, for the planet— she loved that somehow this was exactly the same. 

She nudged his knee with her toe. “Rematch?” 

“Another night. It’s almost time.” 

Aw, and she’d just decided to let him win this time. But knowing it was almost go time gave her a combination of nerves and excitement. “You think this is going to work?”

"I hope so! You had Adora all worked up. She came running in like…" Bow started his Adora impression which was about octave higher than the real thing. "'Bow! You need to ask Glimmer to marry you right now or she'll think you don't love her!' And I was all, 'What? We've talked about getting married so many times, and we’ve basically been engaged since we were eight! Besides, she's the Queen, I'm pretty sure she has to ask me, right?' and she grabbed my shoulders and was shaking me like 'No! You're better at this romantic stuff than she is, it has to be you!' I felt so bad but it was kind of hilarious."

Glimmer laughed. "Does Adora know that's what you think her voice sounds like? Because I don't think she'd be flattered." 

He just grinned and tossed back a handful of grapes. 

Glimmer moved so she could lean on his shoulder and see the stars through the gap in the trees. "Catra acted all above it, as usual, but you could see the gears turning. But at least she agreed. Gods, those two are so hopeless!"

"So, do you think she's going to show?" Bow offered her the bowl of grapes.

"Oh, she'll show. She thinks the Etherian monarchy is at stake! I'm an excellent actress. Double Trouble would be very proud." Glimmer popped some grapes in her mouth. 

"I have no doubt." He bumped her with his shoulder. "Though I feel bad about lying to them. Adora really was freaking out." 

"It's for their own good! The two of them would second guess themselves to death without a little push. We don’t have time for another whole interplanetary war just so they can figure out their feelings. Besides, knowing Catra, she'll never want to admit we fooled her so she'll pretend it was her idea in the first place and we'll be off the hook." 

"Yeah, you're probably right." He lay back and she nestled against his shoulder. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. 

She sighed. What a perfect night. It was still early but she was so comfy here. She’d almost fallen asleep when Bow shifted underneath her. 

"Hey, you hear that? I think that's them." 

That was definitely the sound of footsteps. Probably Adora from the sound of it. Catra would be coming from the other side and, besides, you never heard Catra until it was too late. 

They both sat up at once which made the hammock swing. Snacks rattled and bumped into each other. They shared a guilty look as they tried to silence all the containers. If Adora realized they were up here, the jig would totally be up! Of course, Glimmer could teleport them away but then they would miss all the fun. 

So far so good. Adora hadn’t looked this way. Their friend stepped to the edge of the clearing just ahead of them. Beyond her lay the elaborate picnic they’d set up earlier on the little bit of lawn behind Bright Moon. Candles, rose petals, enough snacks to fill even Adora's bottomless pit, a bottle of that fancy bubbly stuff Catra liked that just made Glimmer sneeze. 

Super romantic. 

Adora and Catra thought they were showing up tonight to help Bow and Glimmer with some elaborate marriage proposal. But their best friends had other plans. Sneaky, devious plans. Gimmer grinned. 

"What do you think will happen when they realize we're not there? Do we have a plan for if they both just turn back around and leave?" Bow's voice wasn't much more than a breath in her ear and it tickled. 

She shushed him. This was the only part of the plan that was a little iffy because it depended on Adora and Catra getting distracted enough by finding each other there to abandon their original instructions. But considering abandoning the plan to follow each other was basically the default behavior for those two, she wasn't too worried about it. They tended to gravitate to each other with something like a magnetic pull. 

"You set Adora's token, right?" Glimmer whispered. 

Bow nodded and started rummaging in his bag as quietly as he could. Glimmer reached for the bowl of chips as Adora cautiously approached the picnic set-up. Her friend wouldn't think anything was weird yet, she was supposed to be helping Bow with some elaborate proposal after all, but Glimmer was sort of wondering if it was occurring to her that this whole over the top thing was more her and Catra's style than her and Bow's. Oh well, nothing left to do but sit back and watch the show. She popped another chip in her mouth. 

"And there's Catra." Bow was watching the opposite side of the lawn through… binoculars? 

"You brought a pair of binoculars? You dork." 

"I brought two pairs of binoculars." Bow looked very triumphant as he handed the other one over. "Who's the dork now?"

"Still you. But thanks." She dusted the crumbs off her fingers and raised the binoculars to her eyes. It took her a minute but, yup, there was Catra slinking along the far side of the lawn. "Oh, there we go. She's already spotted Adora and... she's heading over!"

She and Bow exchanged a triumphant smile and a tiny quiet fist bump. She knew it would work. They were the champions of romance sneakiness. 

"OK, now they are talking and... Ha! Adora found the note." Bow held the binoculars to his face with one hand and was snacking with the other. Adora and Catra were far enough away that they could only hear snatches of what Catra was yelling but the words "kill" and "Sparkles" were easy enough to make out. 

Bow laughed. "You're going to need an extra guard detail, Trouble." 

"Whatever. She'd have to catch me first." 

While Catra was ranting, Adora was rummaging through the picnic basket, looking very confused. Bow grabbed Glimmer’s arm. "Look, look! She found her token!"

"Come on, Adora, you beautiful dense thing, put it together!" Glimmer dug her fingers into Bow's knee. She really wanted this to work or those two dingbats would keep fluttering around until the end of time. Catra had gone quiet and whatever the two of them were discussing now was way too soft for them to hear. "What do you think they're saying?"

"'Oh, Catra! I do believe our very clever friends have tricked us!'" Bow said in his high pitched Adora voice and Glimmer couldn't help but giggle. He shushed her and she covered her mouth but it didn't really help the laughter from spilling over. Then he started doing that absolutely terrible impression of Catra he always did and she had to muffle her face in his chest so she didn't laugh out loud. "'Merroww, Adora! What an absolutely purrrrfect picnic! It would be a CAT-tastrophe if we didn't PAWS here and enjoy it. Purr-hapsss, if you're FELINE romantic we could decide to sssstay together FUR-everrr. A yesss would be MEW-sic to my pointed little earsss! Rrorw!'"

She was laughing so hard she couldn't even tell him to stop so she just smacked him repeatedly on the chest. He was laughing now too, the two of them shaking with silent giggles until they couldn't breathe. By the time she managed to pull herself together, she was actually lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. 

"Oh, gods, do I want to know how you do my voice?"

"Definitely not." He pulled a face and she laughed again.

Then she wasn't even sure why but she leaned over and kissed him. This should be weird, right? That they were just hanging out and goofing around like they'd done their whole lives except they kissed now? Except it wasn't at all. It was perfect. 

He leaned into the kiss, his hand sliding up to cup her face. She linked her arms around the back of his neck and pulled him closer. He tasted perfectly like Bow. Well, Bow and chips. They probably would have kissed like that for a while if they hadn't heard Adora shriek. 

They pulled apart and looked at each other and then back at their friends in time to see Adora throw her arms around Catra. Even in the moonlight they could see the tears on their faces. Catra had Adora's token pinned to her shirt and they couldn't see Adora's front from here but it was a safe bet Catra's was somewhere on hers too. About time. Operation get those two dumbasses to finally get engaged was finally a success. 

"Aw, yay! Best Friend Squad wedding!" Bow whisper cheered. He lowered his binoculars. "OK, now we should probably give them their privacy." 

Glimmer did the same. Adora and Catra were making out now and she saw enough of that on a daily basis, thank you very much. She picked through their snacks but they'd pretty much finished them all. 

Bow offered her the last veggie puff and then lay back down on the hammock, his arms behind his head. He was watching the stars, the whole universe reflected in his eyes. And she saw him all the time, obviously, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate that he was a total hottie. 

His eyes met hers. "What's up?"

"Just checking you out." 

"Oh, yeah?" He raised his eyebrows. 

"And thinking we make a pretty good team." She lay down halfway on top of him, her face above his. "Nice work, partner."

He hugged his arm around her. "I'm glad they're happy. I just don't get what took them so long."

"Because everything is the end of the world with those two. It all has to be life or death."

"They have been through a lot." Bow reached up to touch her hair. She hummed happily and leaned into this touch.

"So I told Aunt Casta, as soon as the main hall is fixed up, we can do the whole ceremony and party thing, make this official. Although I have to keep reminding myself we're not actually married already."

"Does making it official mean we have to fight a giant crystal monster?"

"Uh... it might? Is that a dealbreaker?"

"Nah. Sound like a fun date idea to me." He grinned as his fingers trailed gently along her back.

"And we've got to pierce your ear at some point. But other than that, it's pretty much just paperwork and traditions and stuff. And then, boom, we're married." She grabbed his free hand and linked it with hers.

"So everything changes but nothing changes between us."

"Yup!" She raised an eyebrow at him and did her Bow voice. "So, do you still have it, or whatever?"

He pretended to think about it but it was just a game between then at this point and he couldn't keep a straight face for long without cracking into a grin. When he reached over to his quiver, she pulled off her glove. The painting was chipped and faded and she'd had to replace the string a couple of times over the years but otherwise it was exactly the same as it had been when he'd given it to her when they were kids. 

Some of the sparkles had scuffed off his and it had gotten a little beat up over the years but, then again, so had they. He held it up and it twinkled in the light. She put hers next to his. The little piece of each other they'd never stopped carrying in all this time. 

He ran his fingers through her hair. "You're still my favorite person, you know." 

"I know. And you're mine." She nuzzled her nose into his. 

"And I know the earrings are traditional and all, but is it OK if I consider these to be our real tokens?" 

"Of course, because I do too. Although... you lied to me." 

He looked worried. "About what?"

"The kissing."

He gave her a look and leaned up until his lips were just inches from hers. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is that a problem?" He brushed his lips against hers without kissing her and it sent heat flashing through her body. "Because, if it is..."

"No, definitely not a problem. Just... mentioning it..." Two could play at this game. She moved her lips towards his as slowly as she could stand and was just about to capture them for a proper kiss when there was a loud ripping sound and the entire hammock was upended in a shower of shouts and snacks. 

"Found you, Sparkles!"

* * *

Bow and Adora were laying on the blanket amid the leftovers of her and Catra's romantic bait and switch picnic. Alongside were the various bowls and snack containers they'd collected from the forest floor after Catra had shredded the hammock into scraps. No harm done, since Glimmer had just teleported them safely to the ground. The animals of the Whispering Woods would have a great time with all those crumbs if the chaos ever subsided enough for them to get anywhere near it. 

In the distance, they could hear Catra and Glimmer alternately screaming and laughing as they chased each other around the woods. The occasional burst of pink magic in the dark was the only indication of where they were. 

Adora was watching the bursts of sparkly light and chuckling softly. She turned to Bow with a grin. "I say we give them another half an hour and then She-Ra throws Catra over her shoulder and takes her up to bed."

"Fine with me." Bow laughed. "And I appreciate that you're not trying to kill me for my part in this. I'm really sorry about that."

She punched him in the bicep which hurt way more than he wanted his workout buddy to know it did. "Will you stop apologizing for that! I already told you, it was perfect. We needed the push."

"Congratulations, by the way. I'm really happy for you two."

"Yeah, me too. It's going to be fun." She nudged him with her shoulder and lowered her voice. "So, uh, what about you and Glimmer? You two are getting married right?"

"Yeah, of course. I told you, we’ve been engaged since we were eight.”

“Right.” Adora laughed. “Well, you’ve been acting like you’re married since I met you so I guess that means nothing’s going to change, huh?”

“Because being married will be such a shift for you two?”

“Fair enough.” Adora lay back and looked up at Etheria’s brand new sky. “Wow. When you look at our life as kids and now, everything has changed SO much. I don’t think that Adora would have even dreamed all this was even possible. But when it’s just Catra and I… sometimes it feels like, between us, things are still exactly the same, you know? Like we’ll be old ladies someday still giving each other crap and play wrestling until we end up making out and being like, yup, still Adora and Catra, just like always. ”

“Yeah.” 

All four of them, falling in love with their best friends and being the last people to know. Though he was glad he and Glimmer had managed to skip the whole trying to kill each other phase. He was about to ask Adora whether he or Swift Wind would get to be her Best Man when Glimmer appeared in front of him, smiling and out of breath, just as Catra burst out of the woods on all fours heading straight for her. 

“Come back here Sparkles, you coward!” Catra screamed, an evil grin on her face. 

Glimmer called out in a huge rush. “No thanks! I think Bow and I are going to just head up for bed now. So tired! Congratulations, Adora! Byeeee, Catra.” 

In the half a second before Glimmer grabbed his shoulders and teleported them to the safety of their bedroom, Bow and Adora exchanged a look. 

Just like always. 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is my ARCH NEMESIS!!! I could just NOT get it to be what I wanted and I rewrote it SO MANY TIMES. I'm going to need you to go ahead and pretend you liked it even if you didn't because, dang, yo.
> 
> Comments are always hugely appreciated no matter how long after posting it is!
> 
> Visit my Tumblr for asks, fic updates and misc thoughts. [https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com](https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com/)


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